Trump Wants Tech Firms To ‘pay Their Own Way’ As Power Demand Soars

The POTUS demanded tech giants cover data center power costs as US consumption surged, with Microsoft first to make changes this week.

US President Donald Trump has pledged to make major tech companies “pick up the tab” for their power usage to prevent everyday Americans from paying more for electricity.

“I never want Americans to pay higher electricity bills because of data centers,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday.

He blamed the Democrats for surging household electricity bills and vowed to work with major American tech giants to “secure their commitment to the American People,” with an announcement in the coming weeks.

The average price of electricity per kilowatt-hour in the average US city has increased around 40% over the past five years, according to the St. Louis Fed.

The POTUS said that Microsoft, with whom his team has been working, will make major changes beginning this week “to ensure that Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ for their power consumption, in the form of paying higher utility bills.”

In 2025, US data center demand accounted for 5.2% of America’s total power usage, or 224 terawatt hours (TWh), up 21% from the previous year, according to Visual Capitalist.

By 2030, McKinsey & Company projected that electricity consumption from US data centers could top 600 TWh, or 11.7% of all American power.

Related: Bitcoin is now 56.7% green: Here’s how it could get even cleaner

Cooling accounts for 30% to 40% of total facility energy use, while servers and IT equipment consume approximately 40% to 60% of total facility power, according to Network Installers.

Source: CoinTelegraph